Zana Jo Niblack

Firm in her faith, Zana F. Niblack went home to her Lord on December 1, 2022. She was born in Missoula on April 16, 1940 and spent her life before marriage on the family ranch.

Combined with all the ranching activities, Zana was also a musician, earning a clarinet chair in the All-Northwest band and orchestra in high school.  She was an accountant for the family business and found time to be a voracious reader, a passion her entire life.  She was a renowned cook, especially famous for her pasties and chocolate rolls. 

Zana was fiercely devoted to her family, both nuclear and extended. She moved with her husband to numerous places and many adventures throughout the US and Canada, earning a PH. T. (Put Hubby Through) In every place she lived, numerous kids and adults called her mom and she worked with and served on the governing boards of several social service agencies and several churches.  She was one of the founders of the Soup's On program and an early leader for NAMI Mission Valley. 

Just a few of the highlights of Zana’s life she liked to talk about: life in San Francisco when it was a wonderful cosmopolitan city; attending operas at the old Metropolitan Opera House in NYC; being at the birth of almost every one of her grandchildren and the weddings of all so far. 

Zana was stoic in sorrows, perhaps the greatest the death of son Stephen, but she always reveled in the love of her family who survive her: husband Mason, daughter Gina (Rod) Dahlinger, son David (Crystal) Kaveshan, siblings Bob (Maria) Folsom, Helen (Larry) Carpenter, Cindy (Rick) Urquhart, fourteen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.